W. Alexander & Sons operated buses covering the east coast of Scotland between Inverness in the north and Fife in the south and extending as far west as Milngavie. Alexanders also owned the coachworks where many of the buses operated in Scotland were built, and are still being built. The operating companies were split into three in May 1961 with the operations in the north east being transferred to Northern, those in Fife passing to the company of that name and those in what became Central and Strathclyde regions becoming Midland.

This bus is a 1960 Leyland Tiger Cub, with a Mark 3 Leyland O.350 diesel engine of 5.7 litres capacity developing 105 bhp. Think of this power output in relation to cars nowadays - an average family sized car has more power than this today. Albion 5 speed crash gearbox. Unlike cars and other modern vehicles which have synchromesh gearboxes, this means that the driver has to 'double de-clutch', and time the speed of the gearchange in order to equalise engine speed and road speed to enable each gear to engage.

The Alexander 'Dual-purpose' 41 seat body is designed to be suitable for both service bus work and more coach-related duties such as private hires. Such vehicles were very common in the regional bus fleets of Scotland where this vehicle originates.

PD177 was delivered new to Kelty depot in 1960, and became part of the Fife fleet upon its formation in 1961, being renumbered FPD177 and repainted into the new company's Ayres red and cream livery.

The bus operated until 1975 at which point it was sold to Muir, Kirkcaldy for use as a berry pickers' hut until 1990. PD177 escaped the scrap man's torch to be restored to its original condition as seen here.

Should anyone know of a more suitable Stirlingshire area registration mark – (MS or WG) being available, please let us know via this site.

Photos:- (1) Rear view at a community event in Balfron; (2) at Riverside Museum during the West End Festival; (3) in Balfron re-creating a Balfron depot route; and (4) as it was when rescued for preservation.